England lose their sixth match in succession

Opener Aaron Finch starred as England were once again thrashed by Australia in the opening one-day international of the series.

Having lost 5-0 in the test series, the tourists were desperate to finally register a win and after a rocky start in which England slumped to 22-2, they bounced back after innings of 79, 50 and 41 from Gary Ballance, Eoin Morgan and Ian Bell respectively to finish with 269-7.

However, the bowlers could not match their batting teammates as openers Aaron Finch and David Warner put on 163 for the first wicket, before the latter was caught by Ben Stokes off Joe Root's bowling for 65.

Australia suffered a slight wobble just before that, when Shane Watson was dismissed for a duck before Michael Clarke helped steady the ship as he and Finch brought Australia to 237-4, before Finch finally fell for 121. Clarke was out soon after for 43 but George Bailey and Glenn Maxwell saw Australia home as the hosts finished 270-4 and won by six wickets.

The match did not pass without controversy. When on 22 Warner edged behind to wicket-keeper Jos Buttler and after the two conversed he agreed to walk off.

However, umpires Ranmore Martinesz and Simon Fry decided to refer the decision to TV umpire Kumar Dharmesena, with further viewing proved that the ball had bounced before Buttler caught it.

England captain Alastair Cook questioned the decision afterwards, saying; "It might be my English eyes on it, but I thought it was a pretty clean catch,

"It hit his fingers and bounced up. I only saw it a couple of times on the big screen and I thought it was the wrong decision.

"Obviously David thought it has carried because he was quite happy to walk off,

"It is strange because a lot of those catches look a lot worse on TV than they do in real life. With that one, I didn't see it hit the ground, but we have to respect the umpire's decision."

Cook was under no illusions regarding England's performance, saying;

"We are struggling to find the answers for a lot of these questions.

"All I know is that if we keep working hard it does eventually turn. We have got to keep believing in ourselves to keep doing that and keep backing ourselves, otherwise we certainly won't win games of cricket."

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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